"this week," with george stephanopoulos. starts right now. >> the russia investigation heats up. president trump does, too. as special counsel robert mueller digs into trump's finances, the president lashes out. his white house cries foul. >> he doesn't want the special counsel to move beyond the scope and outside of its mission. >> will trump try to fire mueller? pardon his friends, family, himself? tough questions ahead for trump lawyer jay sekulow. plus, smiling on the outside. seething on the inside. sean spicer exits the white house. >> what are you trying to accomplish with your staff shakeup? >> make america great again. >> the press secretary quits after president trump makes his finance friend anthony scaramucci to communications director. and sarah sanders press secretary. she's here with her first sunday interview. a "this week" exclusive.

and what about the democrats? everyone knows they don't like trump. are they offering an agenda for all of you? >> we're not going to stand idly by and shrug our shoulders when america is suffering. >> chuck schumer says he has answers. what went wrong? what democrats need to get right? and the reporter whose interview are president trump rocked washington this week. maggie haberman joins our "roundtable." everything you need to know. we'll break down the politics. we'll smoke out the spin. the facts that matter this week. good morning. six months ago this week, president trump took the oath of office vowing to make america great again. he promised a border wall paid for by mexico. the end of obamacare. tax cuts for everyone. he claim to have signed more bills at this point than any president ever. that is not true. three signature promises unkept. unclear if they ever will. his approval rating is the lowest of any president ever at this point. though trump has kept a strong hold on his core voters.

he can take comfort in a strong economy, with low unemployment. the stock market at record highs. one big promise the president surely has made good on, the promise to shake up washington. the question now, can his presidency survive the aftershocks? as the russia investigations by congress and the special counsel intensify this week, the president responded as he did when faced with crises in his private life. by hunkering down, lashing out, shaking up his team. attacking his investigators. trump is braced for battle. a battle unlike any he's ever seen before. safe to say our country has never seen anything quite like it either. and it's just beginning. we begin with the president's team. attorney jay sekulow and brand-new press secretary sarah sanders. and mr. s rks k -- sekulow, i want to start with you. let start with this tweet that president trump sent out yesterday morning. while all agree that the u.s. president has the complete power to pardon, why think of it when

the only crime so far is leaks against us. fake news. i wonder if you can explain what the president means by that, complete power to pardon. does he believe he has the right to pardon himself? >> the president in that tweet, stated something rather unremarkable. and that is that under the constitution, article 2, section 2, the president has the authority to pardon. i want to be clear on this, george. we have not, and continue to not have conversations with the president of the united states regarding pardons. pardons have not been discussed. and pardons are not on the table. with regard to the issue of a president pardoning himself, there's a big academic discussion going on. an academic debate. you have professor tribe arguing one point. professor turley arguing another point. and while it makes for interesting academic discussions, let me tell you what the legal team is not doing. we're not researching the issue because the issue of pardons is not on the table. there's nothing to pardon from. >> as you know, "the washington post" reported that you were

discussing it this week. i take it you're denying that article. i want to put up something from 1974. the office of legal counsel under richard nixon. they said under the fundamental rule that no one may be the judge in his own case, the president cannot pardon himself. you're a constitutional lawyer. do you believe the president can pardon himself? >> i don't think that -- first of all, it's never been adjudicated on whether a president could pardon himself because it's not happened. clearly, the constitution does vest a plenary pardon power within the presidency. whether it would apply to the president himself, i think would be matter for a court to decide. if it were ever to come into an existence. like i said, it's not something we're discussing. from a constitutional, legal perspective, you can't dismiss it one way or the other. it's a question. if put in place, would have to be adjudicated by the supreme court to determine constitutionality. the document its, we talk about the document, the constitution, article 2, is very clear.

the president has the power to pardon. academics are arguing both sides. we're not researching it. i haven't researched it. because it's not an issue we're concerned with or dealing with. >> you think it's an open question. let me move on to special counsel mueller. the president complained to "the new york times" this week that robert mueller has an inherent conflict of interest. because he interviewed for the fbi director's job before he was appointed. i want everyone to listen. >> the day before. yes, he was up here. mueller wanted the job. i said, what the hell is this all about? talk about conflicts. he was interviewing for the job. >> he went on to say there were many other conflicts that i haven't said but i will at some point. what did he mean by that? what other conflicts of robert mueller does he have in mind? >> well, george, you know, any lawyer that is involved in a matter, one like this, a court matter. you're always looking at the issue of potential conflicts or conflicts as they arise. if a conflict arises, you raise that conflict with, in this particular case, with the special counsel.

if it was a serious enough conflict that you thought was not being rectified, you go to the deputy attorney general who appoints the special counsel here that is set up after the recusal of jeff sessions. what the president is talking about, in due time, if there is in fact, a conflict that the legal team deems is significant enough to be raised, we would raise the conflict with the special counsel. >> he says mueller has an inherent conflict. he already said mueller has a conflict. has that been raised with the deputy attorney general? >> we have not raised it with the deputy attorney general yet. i'll tell you this. the special counsel's situation, which is a bit unique in the way it's structured. it's not an independent counsel. it's a special counsel. you have to be evaluating conflicts as they -- as a matter moves forward. remember, we're not at an investigative stage yet. i'm not going to start talking about individual and particular conflicts that could exist that would render or put us in a

position where we would, in fact, raise that issue. as the lawyers for the president, we're going to be constantly evaluating that situation. if an investigation were to arise and we thought the conflict were relevant. we would raise it. without question. >> the president has already raised it. he doesn't seem to be on the same page as his lead attorney, john dowd, who with an interview with "the wall street journal" dismissed the the idea that mueller has conflicts. i want to show you that. we all know him and we're not interested in that kind of collateral nonsense. he's an honest guy and he's done a good job. i wonder how you reconcile the statements of mr. dowd and the president. does the president agree that mueller is an honest guy who as done a good job? >> those are not inconsistent statements. what you're talking about. the president was talking about conflicts that exist within the special counsel's office. or that may rise to a level that we have to address. not every conflict do we have to address. when they get to certain levels, you do address them. >> he was talking about mr. mueller's personal conflict. >> john dowd was responding to the fact that we have had an

ongoing professional dialogue with the special counsel's office and haven't yet raised the issues of conflict. the president's concerns, our concern as well, if there is and we're concerned about the conflicts, as conflicts mature, and that's how it works in a proceeding. if the conflicts mature and we have an investigation, which we don't right now, those would be raised in an inappropriate venue. no question. i don't think what john dowd said is inconsistent with the president at all. john is addressing -- let me finish. john dowd who is a brilliant criminal defense lawyer here in washington, john is raising the scenario as it exists with regard to the special counsel's office as he sees something possibly moving forward. the president is concerned about apparent conflicts that have already kind of bubbled to the surface. and look, any lawyer that's handling a matter like this would look at those seriously and take the appropriate action.

i want to awe -- assure you and assure the president that we're doing it. >> mr. dowd calls the idea of conflicts collateral nonsense. mr. trump is raising the conflict. he says the deputy attorney general is conflicted in "the new york times" piece. the acting fbi director is conflicted as well. he seems to be raising questions about everybody who is involved in this investigation. are you concerned at all that this is going to bolster the case of obstruction of justice, that the president appears to be questioning everyone involved in this investigation? >> no, he has the right to raise concerns. you have the situation with the acting fbi director whose wife received i think $500,000 or $700,000 from terry's p.a.c. while she was running for a state senate seat in virginia. that's an -- i mean, you can't ignore that as an issue. that would be naive by any lawyer to glance over that. and say that's not a big deal. >> the president seemed to say it was a problem that the deputy attorney general was from baltimore.

>> he's concerned about the appointment of the deputy attorney general from baltimore. as he's concerned -- he raised it in the article. this is no secret what you're saying. a democratic state. democratic appointment here. and does that in and of itself? look, you have to look at a conflict in the totality of circumstances. i've been practicing law for 38 years. in every case i'm involved in. i've been involved at the supreme court of the united states. i've argued cases in international tribunals. i've handled congressional investigations before the house and senate. here's what happens. you look at these issues, and you make a determination based on looking at those issues, whether it is something that has to be raised within the appropriate venue. so again. what is happening here is the president is recognizing apparent conflicts as a nonlawyer right off the -- just evaluating the situation. and you don't ignore those. anything like this has to be evaluated. and we'll do that. >> i don't understand how being from baltimore, serving from baltimore, he's from

pennsylvania, is a conflict. but i want to bring up one final tweet from the president. this was yesterday, as well. he said so many people are asking why isn't the ag or special council, he didn't spell it correctly there, looking at the many hillary clinton or comey crimes, 33,000 e-mails deleted. which comey crimes does the president believe the justice department or mueller should be investigating? >> well, i think there's a really serious one, george. and that is, the president of the united states is concerned, as i am as his lawyer, that james comey to have notes of the conversations with the president of the united states, he put them on the government computer. put them in his government desk. he took what he called his private notes. investigators and the special counsel and the government have concluded that this is, in fact, government property. he took government property, his private notes on the conversations with the president, and leaked them to the press for what purpose? he said this under oath, for the

sole purpose of obtaining a special counsel. who happened to be appointed the day after the special counsel, bob mueller, interviewed for the fbi job. i think, look this is the reality of what happened. the special counsel comes out of this illegally leaked information by james comey. because let me tell you, what an fbi director or fbi agent can do is leak government property. that's what happened here. if it was an fbi agent that did it, they would be investigated by the fbi. maybe they are. i don't know. we can't make that determination. certainly not public. i think it has to be done. an illegally leaked memo of conversations he had with the president of the united states was the basis for which a special counsel was put in place. and let me also say this. that conversation would have been covered by executive privilege. james comey ignored that. did not give the president or anyone else at that point, when he leaked the information, the opportunity to assert the privilege. i think that was not only a dare

lix of his duties, but a violation of his couldn't constitutional oath. >> that's all we have time for today. it's an open question whether it was illegal. he says it's not classified. the president did not claim privilege over comey's testimony. thank you for your time this morning. >> four of those documents have been deemed classified, george. it doesn't have to be classified to be illegally leaked. under section 641 of the criminal code. government property. >> jay sekulow, thank you for your time. let's move on to the newly appointed press secretary sarah sanders. joins us from the white house lawn this morning. congratulations on the new job. >> thank you. >> when you came to work on friday, is it fair to say you had no idea you would be press secretary at the end of the day? >> i certainly don't think that was part of the original plan waking up and getting to work on friday. but i'm honored to be here and excited to continue being part of the president's team and helping continue to get his message out there and honored to do it. >> i wonder how you see your role. sean spicer, your predecessor, seemed to get hammered from both sides. the president complained he wasn't tough enough.

the press complained he wasn't transparent or truthful enough. how will you strike a balance? >> i think any time, usually if the press is attacking you in the situation, you're probably doing something right. i think sean did a great job. very loyal. served the president admirably. i'm looking forward to being part of the president's team to continue pushing out his message. we want to talk about jobs and health care. how we can make america great again. that's our focus. that's what we're going to come to work every day and try to do. >> i want to ask you the same question jon karl asked sean spicer on his first day. do you promise to try the always tell the truth from that podium? >> absolutely. not just to you. i think that is our duty. certainly, i have three young kids. i want to go home and be able to look them in the eye every day. that's far more important to me to be able to do that and have that highest level of honesty and integrity.

i want to do that in every single thing i do. not just my job. this is an extension of me being able to do that. i'm excited and honored to do it. >> let's move on to the big issue. the house and senate seemed to come the agreement on a bill with tough sanctions for russia. it restricts the president's ability to lift those sanctions and add sanctions for iran and north korea. will the president sign that bill? >> the administration is supportive of being tough on russia. particularly in putting these sanctions in place. the original piece of legislation was poorly written. we were able to work with the house and senate. the administration is happy with the ability to do that and make those changes that were necessary. we support where the legislation is now and will continue to work with the house and senate to put those tough sanctions in place on russia. until the situation in ukraine is fully resolved. and it certainly isn't right now. >> so the president will sign that bill. that's a little news right there. i want to move on to the attorney general, jeff sessions. the president, "the new york times" interview was very tough

on the attorney general this week. said he never would have appointed him has he known he was going the recuse himself from the russia investigation. said it was unfair to the president. a new issue in "the washington post" over the weekend. an intelligence intercept shows the attorney general did talk to the russian ambassador about the campaign. the president responded in a tweet. a new intelligence leak from the amazon washington post. this time against jeff sessions. these illegal leaks, like comey's, must stop. that appears to be a confirmation that the attorney general was talking to the russian ambassador about the campaign. >> i disagree. the president's point is there's a real problem with leaks. whether they are actual leaks or not. there's an issue that there are constant stories, sometimes true, sometimes not, that are being leaked out of the intelligence community. we have had over 60 leaks in the first six months from the intelligence community. when the other administrations previous to us were in the single digits after the entire

time. this is a real problem. there are people that are putting our national security at risk. i think that is one of the most undertold stories so far in the first six months of this administration. there's a ton of focus on what i like to call russia fever. which is a total made-up story about the president trying to -- take away the legitimacy of his victory in november. and we need to focus on these leaks. this is the only illegal thing taking place. it's a serious problem. >> as you know, part of what feeds the fever is the fact that the president and his associates have not been straight about exactly what happened. in fact, the attorney general first said he never had a meeting with russians. he revised that. then he said he never talked about the campaign. now you have a new intercept that says he did talk about the campaign. i know you're upset about the leak. if it is indeed true is that okay with the president? that the attorney general was discussing the campaign with the russian ambassador? >> i'm not going to comment on an alleged illegal leak.

i'm not going to get into the back and forth on that. if we're going to talk about issues with russia, and i think that we certainly should, one of the first places we should look is at the $500,000 that bill clinton took from russians when hillary clinton was secretary of state. if we want to talk about collusion, i think that is one of the first places we should look. they should ask for that money back. i think that's where the focus should be. the media loves to talk about it only when it comes to president trump. they've been doing it for almost a year. they've come up with nothing when there's real issues with some of the activities that the democrats took place in. >> you know that's not true. for many months, you, the to the, his team denied any contact with the russians. in the last week, that's when these contacts have been revealed. that's why don jr. and jared kushner are appearing this week. this is not a made-up story from the press. i want to focus on the attorney general, right here as well. you have said the president has confidence in the attorney general.

yet in that interview with "the new york times" he said he wouldn't have appointed him. he was unfair. how do you reconcile those two statements? >> the president knows the attorney general is trying hard. he appreciates that. at the same time, he's disappointed he chose to recuse himself. i don't think that is inconsistent or hard to understand that there would be frustration with that the. >> and the president is still frustrated? >> certainly. but i think, again, he's mostly frustrated with the overall process. there was a "wall street journal" poll that showed the top three issues that americans care about are immigration, health care, and jobs. the top three issues that the media cares about are russia, russia, and russia. there's 15 times more coverage on russia than the three big issues that americans care about. that's a problem. that's the exact definition of russia fever and i think why people are so frustrated with washington. and one of the reasons donald trump became president in the first place.

you have the complete opposite idea of what americans care about. donald trump tapped into it. he's been able and willing to talk about it. he's had success in those areas. in the first six months of his office. >> the health care bill stalled this week. i want to ask about that. let me make the point as well we have never before seen a intelligence community convene that a foreign government like russia interfered with our election. we have never seen a special counsel appointed this early into a presidency. yesterday, the president was speaking on the "u.s.s. gerald ford" and he chose to make a pitch on the ship to assembled seamen. let's take a look. >> so call that congressman. call that senator, and make sure you get it. and by the way, you can also call those senators to make sure you get health care. >> it raised a lot of eyebrows. including ben rhodes. who worked for president obama. he said this is a huge deal. obamas or bushes would never have done this. violate the the most fundamental norms separatinging military and

politics. why does the president believe it was appropriate to make a political pitch like that in this forum? >> the president is committed to repealing and replacing obamacare. we have a system that's completely collapsing. it's failed at all levels. we have to make a major shift. inaction is not an option. the president was making that clear yesterday and speaking to not just the people in the room but the american people. >> what does he want the senate to do this week? it sure seems like repeal and replace has died. does he want them to repeal obamacare and replace it at the same time? or does he just want them to repeal it? >> as we have said many times, our pref presenerence is to rep replace. we have a system that is not sustainable. we have to lower premiums. we have to create better care. we have to start doing that right now. >> on that, the president spoke about health care in a "new york times" interview. and seemed to suggest that under the president's plan, a 21-year-old could get insurance for $12 a year.

let's listen. you're 21 years old. you start working. you're paying $12 a year for insurance. and by the time you're 70, you get a nice plan. here's something where you walk up and say, i want my insurance. you were asked how that is possible. where is it possible under the president's plan to buy insurance for $12 a year? you promised to go back and get the answer. what is the answer? >> i haven't had a chance to do that yet, george. i promise to do it before the next briefing. >> you have never heard of a $12 a year insurance plan, have you? >> i haven't spent a lot of time studying insurance plans across the board. certainly not for a 21-year-old. it's been a long time since i was 21. but, if i could get a $12 plan, i think i would be on board with that. >> sarah sanders, thank you for your time. >> thank you, george. "roundtable" is up next. and later, democrat chuck schumer. is his new better deal agenda the answer to the democrats'

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humira & go. and in this swe see.veryday act, when we give, we receive. ♪ present. you're always itthinking about it.s always what if my cancer comes back? i've been working on this therapy for 5 years now and we're getting ready to go to the clinic. my son definitely keeps me fighting. i want to be there for him when he needs me. that's what motivates me. i want to see patients have gray hair. i see myself growing old with my pink hair. that to me, is enough to keep going. the president is known to see himself as his own best spokesperson. his own best messenger. that was clearly a challenge

that sean had at this podium. how do you plan to navigate that differently than him or mike or -- >> i do believe that the best messenger, the best media person in the white house is the president of the united states. i'm hoping to learn from him as well as sarah and other people. >> there's the new white house communications director being questioned by maggie haberman. from "the new york times" also a cnn political analyst. she's here this morning along with joshua green. the author of the new book, "devil's bargain." they went to eric bolling's book first. "the swamp." do you think president trump likes eric's bok better than josh's? we have republican strategist and cnbc analyst sara fagan. and roland martin, the managing

editor of "news one now." right in the middle of the week. health care is going down on monday and tuesday. he's shaking up his legal team. they say it's made in america week in the white house, yet the president gives you this interview . he takes on jeff sessions, robert mueller, the deputy attorney general. sort of offmessage one more time. then i question myself. not offmessage at all. he said exactly what he wanted to say. >> right. i think this is the part where people get tied up with this president. there's this assumption that he didn't mean to say this. he was given the opportunity by hope hicks repeatedly, who was sitting in the interview, to not answer questions if he didn't want to. other advisers raised questions about us coming in in the days before. it went straight to the president. he overruled it. he wanted the possibility there. while his -- what is going on in his head might not make sense to staff, observers, critics, he knew what he was doing. i don't know that that had a conclusion. i don't know that that had a clear path. in his mind, he often throws these things out, as you know,

to get off another story. i think in this case, it was to get it off of his son and refocus on other issues. this is something he believed. peter baker and i had written weeks ago that this all goes back to jeff sessions. that is the original creation moment in the president's mind of how we got to mueller. >> he knows what he's doing. does he understand the impact? let me pring that question to you, eric bolling. perhaps the president wants the focus off don jr. it guarantees one more complete look at russia. >> he didn't need to do that. he didn't need to sit down with "the new york times" to do that. he could have tweeted about it. what donald trump does, president trump does is he moves forward. he moves the media. the story forward. he stays in the news. i will tell you, unequivocally. i spoke to him yesterday. he's very frustrated about russia being the focus of everyone's conversations. he would like to talk about other things. focus on other things. the media never gets there.

he sits down with "the new york times" what happens? they talk about russia. collusion, or russia. >> but eric. >> just to finish this. the sessions thing is on his mind. when i spoke to him yesterday, he is concerned that, hey, he appointed jeff sessions. he shook his hand and said, you're the attorney general. >> how do you explain sarah sanders, i want to move on to roland, how do you explain sarah sanders saying the president has confidence in jeff sessions? from talking the to you and m maggie haberman, he does not have confidence. >> i said he's frustrated that had he known jeff was going to recuse himself within, days of being appointed over a hand shake on a receiving line in a book event, that he probably wouldn't be the attorney general. >> this is very simple for this president and his administration. if you want to stop hearing about russia. stop lying. stop changing stories. actually tell the truth. as george said to sarah, multiple stories. we have donald trump jr. who

chasing his story from saturday to sunday. and it keeps changing. >> what is the story? >> this is the story. >> one story that has legs. >> eric, eric -- this is the story. donald trump jr. says we got money from russia. the president says we didn't. eric trump said it as well. donald trump jr. says to jake tapper, oh, it's disgusting their discussing meetings with russia. now we know from his own e-mail, he did. >> sara fagan. >> i didn't use the word collusion. >> there may or may not. there may or may not be a real story or any there there. but the reality is, there's now a special counsel. the best thing for the president to do is to not go do interviews and talk about russia but to talk about his agenda and let his lawyers, mr. sekulow, very capable this morning. let his lawyers talk about it and he should stop talking about it. >> good luck with that. >> and don't threaten the special prosecutor. >> you see the strains trump is under. there are a lot of advisers who do want him to defer to the legal team. on the other hand, his son has

hearings coming up. >> son-in-law has hearings. >> son-in-law, this week. >> both. >> i think trump wants to raise questions about the validity of this line of questioning in anticipation of this is going to be in the news. this is going to be focussed on. i can't stop it. i can raise questions. >> you can't have it both ways. you can't constantly complain about the russia story and constantly talk about it. >> that's what he does. >> he has to choose a path. >> he doesn't come -- he complains about the media's treatment of his presidency. the media only cares about russia. it literally occupies -- >> because he talks about it every day. >> i would -- my first question to jay sekulow, had the president not tweeted about russia yesterday. let me bring this back to maggie haberman right now. in the midst of all of this, a big white house shakeup. one that apparently the president -- it sure seems like most of the white house didn't know that the president was sitting down with you. seems like most of the white house didn't know that anthony scaramucci, including reince priebus, until the end, was

coming in as communications director. >> most people in "the white house" knew -- most people in the white house knew that "the times" was coming in. whether it was going to go on the record or not was a different issue. in terms of scaramucci, this is true. this was a direct negotiation between antony scaramucci and president trump. they have known each other for a long time. they have had, at times, a c contentious relationship, because scaramucci had backed other horses. basically, the president has been very frustrated by his messages team. part of why it is that you see him tweeting. see him giving interviews. he feels like people are not accurately representing what he thinks or are not defending him well. in terms of scaramucci, and you saw sarah talking about this. the president is consumed with frustration about leaks. he blames a lot of the leaking of some members of the current staff. he believes this change will help that. whether it will, we'll see. >> your book, josh, is about steve bannon, in large part.

lots of reports that he was vociferously opposed to this appointment. even as he's taken a step back in the white house. i have also read that the president not that happy with bannon after hearing about your book. >> i haven't heard from him directly. absolutely, bannon got steam-rolled by this appointment. he and reince priebus, the chief of staff, had tried to intervene. apparently, at that point, scaramucci had already been told by the president he had the job. they were unable to do that. i think scaramucci's first press conference was revealing of what it is that trump would like to see on tv. i viewed it as a tuning fork. you could listen to it, hear the notes that trump wants his advisers to strike. that he's brilliant. that he's under appreciated. that he's not getting a fair shake from the media, from democrats. that he has good karma. a great athlete even. and i think that show of fealty makes other advisers in the white house nervous. >> here's something the president should do. be honest with your staff.

you cannot send your people out to represent you and then you come back and tell a totally different story like he did with lester holt and then go, you're not doing your job. be honest with them. it's a start. >> it will be interesting to watch how anthony scaramucci does in this job. my experience with people who have very wealthy, as he is, there comes a point where they don't care, and they don't need the guy down the hall. and that's unusual for a staffer to be in. this dynamic between the communications director and the president certainly is off on a very good foot. we'll see where it ends up. >> particularly in that job. we have to take a quick break. we'll be back. up next, senator chuck schumer on the democratic party's new agenda.

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and we're going to change it. >> senate majority leader chuck schumer. right after the election. in 2016. six months in to the trump presidency. just 37% of americans think the democratic party stands for something. 52% say it just stands against president trump. can democrats make the case for their own agenda? senator schumer is here to talk about it next. here to talk about it next. when this bell rings... ...it starts a chain reaction... ...that's heard throughout the connected business world. at&t network security helps protect business, from the largest financial markets to the smallest transactions, by sensing cyber-attacks in near real time and automatically deploying countermeasures. keeping the world of business connected and protected. that's the power of and.

with some big news about type 2 diabetes. you have type 2 diabetes, right? yes. so let me ask you this... how does diabetes affect your heart? it doesn't, does it? actually, it does. type 2 diabetes can make you twice as likely to die from a cardiovascular event, like a heart attack or stroke. and with heart disease, your risk is even higher. you didn't know that. no. yeah. but, wait, there's good news for adults who have type 2 diabetes and heart disease. jardiance is the only type 2 diabetes pill with a lifesaving cardiovascular benefit. jardiance is proven to both significantly reduce the chance of dying from a cardiovascular event in adults who have type 2 diabetes and heart disease and lower your a1c. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration. this may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, or lightheaded, or weak upon standing. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, tiredness, and trouble breathing. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of ketoacidosis or an allergic reaction. symptoms of an allergic reaction include rash, swelling,

and difficulty breathing or swallowing. do not take jardiance if you are on dialysis or have severe kidney problems. other side effects are sudden kidney problems, genital yeast infections, increased bad cholesterol, and urinary tract infections, which may be serious. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. so now that you know all that, what do you think? that it's time to think about jardiance. ask your doctor about jardiance. and get to the heart of what matters.

in the mirror everyday. when i look when i look in the mirror everyday. everyday, i think how fortunate i am. i think is today going to be the day, that we find a cure? i think how much i can do to help change people's lives. i may not benefit from those breakthroughs, but i'm sure going to... i'm bringing forward a treatment for alzheimer's disease, yes, in my lifetime, i will make sure. and we're back with the senate democratic leader, chuck schumer. senator, thank you for joining thus morning. you saw the poll we put up. 52% of americans think democrats

only stand against president trump. don't know what you stand for. why don't americans know what the democrats stand for? is it your fault? >> it is, in part, our when you lose an election with someone that has a 40% popularity, you look in the mirror and think, what did we do wrong? people know we're standing up to trump. they like that. but they want to know, what do you stand for? so tomorrow, democrats will unveil our economic agenda. it is called a better deal. it has three components. we're going to raise people's wages. and create better paying jobs. we're going to cut down on their everyday expenses they have to pay. we're going to give them the tools they need to compete in the 21st century. so simply put, what do democrats stand for? a better deal for working families. higher wages. less costs. tools for the 21st century.

>> you had a president for eight years. control of congress for part of that time. what took so long? why didn't it happen in the campaign? >> i don't know why it didn't happen in the campaign. we all take blame. not any one person. but now, we have spent a lot of time working on this. and it's really going to impress the american people. it will not be left or right. it is going to be totally focused on working people. who realize, believe correctly, that the system is rigged against them, and not helping them with all the changes. rapid changes. economic and social. and people ask, well, are you going to appeal to the obama coalition? young people? lgbt, people of color? or the trump people of democrats who voted for trump, blue collar voters? this will appeal to both. it will unify the democratic party. we're united on economic issues. a bold, sharp-edged message, platform, policy, that talks about working people and how the system is rigged against them is going to resonate. this is the first time we're going to have it. our party is going to be unified.

>> we have had a problem with wage stagnation. you talk about better wages. we have had a problem with wage stagnation for the last 40 years. what can any piece of legislation do about that? >> well, we have researched this thoroughly and talked to all kinds of people. there are lots of things we can do. let me say one more thing. donald trump campaigned on this message. he was a populist. he campaigned against the establishment. as soon as he got into office, he embraced the koch brother hard right and he abandoned his plans to clean up wall street. drain the swamp, be tough on trade. we are going to fill that gap in a way that is really going to resonate with the american people. >> what are you going to propose that donald trump can sign on to? >> we have already proposed a few things. an infrastructure plan. we don't know where he is on

infrastructure. we're going to have to work with him on that. we have proposed already a $15 minimum wage. trump won't go for that. we have proposed a family leave proposal that work well. here's what we'll propose tomorrow. number one, we're going to go after the drug companies. we'll create a special, special office that will just go after these drug companies when they raise prices so egregiously and people can't afford these drugs. we're going to change the way companies can merge. we have these huge companies buying up other big companies. it hurts workers and prices. the old adam smith idea of competition is gone. people hate it when their cable bills go up. their airline fees. they know that gas prices are sticky when the price for oil goes up on the markets, it goes right up but never goes down. how the heck did we let exxon and mobil merge? that was democrats. we'll go after that. that will help the average person lower their costs. and finally, we're going to have

tomorrow, a very novel idea of how to create 10 million jobs. there are 10 million americans looking for good-paying jobs. we're going to show them how to find them. that's the beginning. week after week. month after month, we're going to roll out specific pieces. quite different than the democratic party you have heard in the past. we were too cautious. we were too namby-pamby. this is sharp. bold. and will appeal to both the old obama coalition, let's say the young lady who is just getting out of college. and the democratic voters who left us for trump. the blue collar worker. economics, george, is our strength. and we're going to go at it. >> some wonder if it will be bold enough. kir sten gillibrand says, if you want to get prices down, you have to go the single payer health care. will democrats unify behind that? >> our economic agenda, we have talked so much about health care that we're not going to address

that in this agenda. we've been talking about it. the first thing we're going to do, should first, that i think this trumpcare will not pass. it just is rotten. >> you think it's dead. >> i think it's very unlikely to pass because it's rotten to the core. people are not for reducing taxes on rich people or getting rid of medicaid. which is a very, very middle class now thing, as well as for poor people. so the first things we're going to propose, and the republicans will hopefully join us once they abandon this rotten bill -- is some cost sharing. which the insurance companies say will help bring down premiums and stabilize the market. something else republicans have often supported which is reinsurance, proposed by tom carper and tim kaine. and claire mccaskill has proposed something in the bare counties. b-a-r-e. you can -- if you can't get insurance in those counties, you can get the same kind of health insurance we get. then we're going to look at broader things. single payer -- >> that's on the table? >> sure. many things are on the table.

medicare for people above 55 is on the table. a buy-in to medicare is on the table. a buy-in to medicaid is on the table. on a broader way, we'll look at them. our republican colleagues have said, even mitch mcconnell alluded to the fact that should their bill fail, they'll work with us on these first stabilization things. then democrats and republicans who have different ideas should sit down and talk about how we can improve the system. the one thing we insist on, we not do what they did. ten republicans. four republicans in a room, not even including us. regular order. hearings. committees. go will you the process. on this agenda, we are going to really shake things up. and we're going to fill the vacuum that donald trump left when he campaigned on some of the things like this and then abandoned them for the hard right koch brothers. >> do you believe the president could pardon himself? what would it mean if he took the next step and at some point

actually fired robert mueller? >> if he fired mueller or pardoned himself or someone close to him in the investigation, it would be among the greatest, greatest breaking of the rule of law. of traditional democratic norms. of what our democracy is about. i think it could cause a cataclysm in washington. i cannot imagine our republican colleagues, including paul ryan or mick mcconnell, standing by if he were to do that. >> thank you for joining us. will congress get anything done this year? that's next. congress get anything done this year? that's next.

to my good friend john mccain, you asked me how he's doing. he has called me three times this morning. no more woe is me, lindsey. he's yelling at me to buck up. so i'm going to buck up. john is ready to come back.

i ask one thing of the good lord. just give him a chance for what time he's got left and i've got left to be relevant. >> senator lindsey graham talking about his friend, john mccain. of course we all learned this week that senator mccain is battling a brain tumor. we all wish him well. want to talk more about all this on our "roundtable." of course, the fact that senator mccain is getting treatment means he won't be back in washington right away. sara health care. schumer from a 50-50 to now thinking they're not going to pass it. is there any way this can pass this week? >> it looks unlikely. i think this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for republicans. they need to come together and pass something. not only because it's right for the party and politically and most importantly, right for the country.

it's right for them at the ballot box. >> does it just -- pass anything? >> this has been a debacle. this has been a debacle. every part of the party is at fault. to those on the far right to the left. fighting over the small issues. we need to come together. or, ironically, nancy pelosi who was oesed -- ousted in 2010 as speaker because of health care is going to be back as speaker because of health care. >> how would this -- >> i said it's good for the country. >> it's not good for the country when vow 12% to 15% of americans say they only support this bill. it's a shameful bill. what your plan should be is going to those places, whether it is mississippi, alabama, tennessee, west virginia, saying no, this bill was passed for you. when people support the affordable care act but hate obamacare, they're saying we hate obama but love the affordable care act. this deal is horrible. what they should have done is sit with democrats. you can not change one-sixth of the economy and ignore the other part. >> they're not buying it.

>> the democrats did change one-sixth of the economy. here's the problem. president trump was betrayed by house leadership and senate leadership. paul ryan promised a bill that not only he could get passed through his chamber, one that americans could get behind. >> wait a second. paul ryan wanted to repeal and then wait a couple of years to come up with a replacement. the president insisted on doing both. >> that is back on the table. senator rand paul says, let's do the repeal only right now and replace -- clean repeal. he doesn't have the votes. mcconnell doesn't have the votes. for some reason i can't understand. there are three senators -- portman, murkowski, capito are against this. meanwhile, they voted in favor of it in 2015 to clean repeal, work to re-establish a health care plan. why are they -- why are they now against something that they were so in favor of a year ago? >> there's plenty of blame to go around among republicans. the original sin here i think was mitch mcconnell. eight, nine years ago, he

absolutely demonized obamacare. the process. set the standard that no republican can ever support anything short of repeal. what is bedevilling republicans right now. it did in the house. it did in the senate is that you can't square that circle. you can't take it away and survive. >> government shouldn't be involved in a private sector issue, which health care should be. private sector. >> back to maggie. you talked a little bit to the president about this. in the interview. he's not been out front selling this to the extent that he's been there selling it, he appears many times to have hurt the cause as much as he has helped it. >> i think, a, you have a divided white house. i don't think the white house is completely unified. i think there's a lot of fault here on the congressional leadership. but you don't have a white house that is in synch, number one, as to how much of a priority this is. you don't have a white house that feels like it has a chief of staff directing all the focus and resource on this. that's just the reality. you have a president who is not

a detailed-oriented person and doesn't fully focus on some of the specifics the same way he does the top line. and i also think one of the things he said to us in this interview, my colleagues and i, he does believe generally speaking that people should be able to have health care. just a concept. >> he promised health care for everyone. this bill does not give that. >> well, this bill gives money to states to solve the uninsured problem. it lowers premiums by 30%. >> not repeal only? >> not repeal only. but the senate bill lowers them 30%. here's the fundamental thing that reason that i think this is where it is today. it's highly unusual for a sitting president in the first few months of his office to not be marching up legislation on the hill, championing it, owning it, having members of the congress work with him to improve his or her legislation. president trump has been kind of m.i.a. on this.

he tweets about it. but he doesn't have a plan. as a result of this, you have members of the party all over the place on this and we can't come to consensus. >> he has no plan because he knows nothing about it. show me the -- the times when he's sat down with members and said, we're going to have public testimony. show me the rallies. show me the town halls. >> hey, roland. paul ryan put together a plan that members of his own party weren't allowed to see. >> you control the house, the senate, and the white house. >> the rest of the house couldn't see. senators couldn't see. >> let me ask you a question. let me ask you a question. when democrats controlled the house and the senate, did the president sit on his butt in the white house and play golf? no. you know what he did? he actually went out and campaigned for it. he held rallies. he had televised -- >> you have to have something good enough to campaign for. this is not good enough to campaign for. i think he -- >> he had a rose garden beer summit. what happened? >> josh? >> mcconnell asked trump and his staff to back off on health

care. not get involved. i don't think you can blame trump for not getting the health care bill through the senate if your majority leader explicitly told the white house back channel, don't do what you did in the house fight. don't go threaten members. back off. i got this. it turns out, looks like mcconnell -- >> this is something that eric is right on, maggie. you can't do something this big, this complicated, that affects so many people, basically in secret. >> i think that's correct. it's been secret in multiple fronts. the president got involved on the first go-around in the house. that didn't go so great. he backed off a bit after that. you have had mcconnell say, we're going to deal with this ourselves. there's no -- there's no harmony among -- we talk about republicans controlling congress and the white house. it's actually three different groups. >> that's the last word.

that's all for us today. thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. check out "world news" tonight. i'll see you tomorrow on "gma."

and a record number of runners taking part right now in the san francisco marathon. we'll tell you who crossed the finish line first. >> what a beautiful morning for mt. tam. gorgeous since sunrise with the low clouds, fog making an impact on our coastal temperatures and around the bay. i'll have your full forecast next on abc7 mornings. ♪ seed to the oat to the o, to the bowl to the spo♪n ♪ bowl to the spoon, to the mouth of the boy in the room ♪ room for that goodness... inside him to bloom ♪ ♪ good goes around... and around... and around ♪

♪ seed to the oat to the o, on the first day of school ♪ ♪ schoolin' your sister on why...and just how to be cool ♪ cool if she hangs, you can show her what's go♪d ♪ good goes around...and around...and around ♪ ♪ good goes around and around ♪